LinkedIn smart replies help you feign interest in business lunches

Smart replies in email and messaging apps are more than a little impersonal, but that's not necessarily a bad thing with LinkedIn.

Smart replies in email and messaging apps are more than a little impersonal, but that's not necessarily a bad thing with LinkedIn. Do you really want to hand-craft messages to someone who's just trying to arrange a sales pitch? You won't have to after today. LinkedIn has introduced smart message replies that use machine learning to offer up to three canned responses based on the conversation. If someone wants a business lunch, you can ask when they'd like to meet with a single tap. It's certainly cold, but it might fit the bill if you want to fast-forward through the empty formalities that often come with work-related chats.

There will be a few traces of humanity in the future. LinkedIn is promising personalized responses, such as references to your conversation partner by name. It's doubtful this upgrade will make your replies seem any more heartfelt, but it beats a terse "thanks."

The feature is available in English for both mobile and desktop users right now, with promises of more languages in the pipeline. And yes, you can turn them off -- you won't be tempted to 'cheat' on messages if you'd prefer to type everything. With that said, this is one of the few times where the robotic, unfeeling option may be the most compelling.